US Representative Gabrielle Giffords is breathing on her own and doctors todaywere hopeful about her recovery from a head wound suffered in an Arizona shooting spree that killed six people and wounded 14.
Ms Giffords, a popular 40-year-old Democrat, is still in critical condition at a Tucson hospital but is "holding her own," responding to simple commands and breathing without the aid of her ventilation tube, her doctor said.
"She has no right to look this good. We're hopeful," Dr Michael Lemole, head of neurosurgery at the University Medical Center, said of her recovery from a bullet that passed through her brain.
"It's week to week, month to month," he said. "She's going to take her recovery at her own pace."
Dr Lemole said Ms Giffords was still being ventilated through a breathing tube to protect her airway and prevent complications like pneumonia.
The suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, is being held pending a January 24th preliminary hearing on five federal charges, including the attempted assassination of Ns Giffords.
Mr Loughner is accused of opening fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on Saturday while the congresswoman greeted constituents in a supermarket parking lot.
"In a minute, he took away six loved ones, and took away our sense of well-being," Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said in a speech in Tucson. "There is no way to measure what Tucson and all of Arizona lost in that moment."
The bloody rampage has fueled debate about whether the heated rhetoric featured in recent US political campaigns can lead to violence.
President Barack Obama plans to go to Arizona tomorrow to attend a memorial service for the dead, who included a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and one of Ms Giffords' young aides.
A CBS News poll released today found a majority of Americans reject the view that inflamed political rhetoric contributed to the shootings in Arizona.
The poll found 57 per cent of respondents said the harsh political tone had nothing to do with the shooting, while 32 per cent felt it did. The rejection of a link was strongest among Republicans, with 69 percent feeling harsh rhetoric was not related to the attack.
While the motive for the attack was not apparent, politicians and commentators have said a climate in which strong language and ideological polarization is common may have contributed.
Former president Bill Clinton cautioned that public officials should be careful about their language.
"We cannot be unaware of the fact that, particularly with the Internet, there's this huge echo-chamber out there," he told BBC News. "Anything any of us says falls on the unhinged and the hinged alike, and we just have to be sensitive to it."
Lawmakers in both political parties have called for greater civility in politics, and tomorrow members of Congress will come together in a bipartisan prayer service.
Ms Giffords's colleagues in Congress have put most of their work on hold after the shootings, which prompted many of them to reassess their own security and even their way of life.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has postponed a vote to repeal Mr Obama's controversial overhaul of the healthcare system, which Giffords and other Democrats backed.
In Washington, attorney general Eric Holder said the shooting rampage showed the danger of threats against public officials.
"Without question, threats against public officials -- whatever form they take -- continue to be cause for concern and vigilance," Mr Holder said. "But I do not believe that these threats are as strong as the forces working for tolerance and peace."
Ms Giffords is one of six people being treated at the hospital for gunshot wounds. A spokesman said three remain in serious condition, and two in fair condition.
Mr Loughner's parents, Amy and Randy, are devastated by the incident and plan to release a statement, a neighbour told local media.
"Their son is not Amy and Randy, and people need to understand that. They're devastated. Wouldn't you be if it was your child?" neighbor Wayne Smith, with tears in his eyes, told Phoenix's News Channel Three.
Reuters